rights cases. and i think it's entirely possible the court may limit or even overrule justice o'connor's opinion getting rid of racial preferences more and more. >> so this is a case involving a state university, a public university. so if they decide that affirmative action giving a preference to certain students based on race for example is unconstitutional, would it also automatically apply to private universities that get federal aid, for example? >> not automatically. but this is the way the court works is that they decide one case at a time. and they establish principles that are later applied or not applied. each case can be somewhat different. but if they say that a university which is a part of the state may not consider race, that race is simply impermissib impermissible, you can be sure that that message will filter out not just through universities but also to employers and to the government. it could be an enormous change. we'll only deal with public universities this term. >> let me r